In a wireless network, a user is notified that a voicemail message is waiting when the user receives a voicemail. This notification involves the current mobile switch that the wireless device is connected to sending a message to the wireless device indicating how many voicemail messages are waiting to be checked.
Currently, when a wireless device receives a Message Waiting or Voice Mail Notification message, it immediately sends an acknowledgement message to the network as an indication that the message was received by the wireless device and then notifies the user of the receipt of a voice mail message. It is up to the user to make a call to the Voice Mail System and listen to the pending voice mail.
In addition, it is the responsibility of the network to send a message to explicitly indicate the number of remaining pending messages, if any, if the user has listened to some or all the pending voice mails.
A problem frequently occurs with current voicemail notification when a mobile user moves from one network boundary to another (e.g. one mobile switch, system, network or registration zone to a second mobile switch system, network or registration zone). In such boundary crossings, the wireless device is usually required by the network to register with it and a notification message is sent that a voicemail message is waiting. In such instances of mobility where the wireless device is required to register with different networks, the wireless device can receive the same voicemail message notification repeatedly. In a data device, the same notification message appears multiple times in its incoming message folder. The problem gets worse at network boundaries where the user may go back and forth between two networks and each transition is accompanied by the same voicemail notification message.
Voicemail notifications can be either sent as a signaling message or as a short message service over the common paging channel or dedicated traffic channel, but regardless of the method used to convey the voicemail notification to the wireless device, repeated notifications of the same voicemail message are annoying to the user and can lead to a negative impression by the user of the wireless service.